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Filler metals
You can weld aluminium to most metals easily through adhesive bonding or mechanical fastening. However, to weld aluminium to steel, special techniques are required.
Directly arc welding metals such as steel, copper, magnesium or titanium to aluminium produces very brittle intermetallic compounds. To avoid this, you must isolate the other metal from the molten aluminium during the process.
There are three common techniques that can be used to successfully weld aluminium to steel.
Creating bimetallic transition inserts is a popular method used when welding aluminium to steel. This method is often used for producing welded connections of excellent quality within structural applications.
The bimetallic transition inserts are sections of material comprising of one-part aluminium with equal part steel or stainless steel. The inserts are already bonded to the aluminium. Various methods are used to bond these dissimilar materials and form the bimetallic transition. These methods include rolling, explosion welding, friction welding, flash welding (or hot pressure welding) and arc welding.
Arc welding the steel and aluminium bimetallic transition inserts is done through normal methods of GMAW or GTAW. One side of the insert is welded steel to steel. The other is welded aluminium to aluminium.
Performing an aluminium-to-aluminium weld first helps prevent the inserts from overheating. This also provides a larger heat sink when the steel-to-steel weld is performed.
The bimetallic transition insert method is commonly used to:
Another method many use to successfully weld aluminium to steel is dip coating. This is also commonly referred to as hot-dip aluminising. In this method, the steel is coated with aluminium prior to welding the steel and aluminium together.
Once coated, the steel member can be arc welded to the aluminium member. Care should be taken to prevent the arc from impinging on the steel. A specific technique must be used during welding to direct the arc onto the aluminium member. The technique also allows the molten aluminium from the weld pool to flow into the aluminium-coated steel.
Another coating method for welding aluminium to steel is brazing. It involves coating the steel surface with silver solder. The pieces are then welded together using aluminium filler alloy. ?
Please note that neither of these coating-type joint methods (dip coating, brazing) are typically depended on for full mechanical strength. They are usually used for sealing purposes only.
If you want to learn more about welding aluminium to steel, or if you have a question that was not answered here, please feel free to?contact us.